While Swan Racing driver Cole Whitt joined BK Racing as part of a deal in which BK added Swan's No. 26 car to its stable, Kligerman was left without a job as his No. 30 team was sold to Xxxtreme Motorsport, which already has a driver in JJ Yeley.

“I hate the guys who get to this level and say, ‘oh poor me’ and ‘poor this’ and ‘poor that,’” Kligerman said in a phone interview Thursday. “I can’t stand that. Honestly, at the end of the day, life is so short, it’s up to you what you do with it.

“I’ve always been a person that thinks that you can make anything happen that you put your mind to.”

It wouldn’t be hard to understand if Kligerman were bitter about the situation. Swan Racing took a chance on him after a few solid outings late last year but team owner Brandon Davis also opted to expand to two teams, and that put a strain on funding and equipment that led to the dissolution of the team.

“In this situation, could it have been a great deal with one car and do what they were doing last year and moving forward? Absolutely,” Kligerman said.

“But at the end of the day, it didn’t go that way. Brandon Davis and everyone involved tried to shoot for the stars and we failed. But we’ve made good on that, hopefully, and hopefully we will turn it into something better from that.”

Active with writing blogs and in social media, Kligerman has not shied away from the spotlight. He did an entire podcast to answer fan questions about his future.

That future is uncertain, but it’s one where Kligerman wants to drive for a NASCAR team that wants him as a driver long-term and has a plan to improve.

“It’s about having a team that wants to move forward, that wants to become a contender and wants to eventually win races and fight for championships,” Kligerman said in the phone interview.

“At Swan Racing, that was our intention. Obviously, it all went array. But that was the intention. Some of these teams are more about surviving than thriving, and I’m not here to survive.”

Kligerman, who has a NASCAR Truck Series win and finished ninth in the Nationwide standings last year, is 38th in the Cup standings but views his performance last year in two races for Swan Racing — 18th at Texas, 25th at Homestead — as a sign of what he can do as he took a team that was near the bottom of the standings and finished in the middle of the pack.

“Expanding to two cars (this year), it put a lot of our resources very thin,” Kligerman said. “When things are thin, things will break. … I was more proud of (last year) than this year, where I feel like we were just kind of surviving as much as trying to get better.

“When we did get to run, we did well. People out there can look at those (finishes this year) and take it the way they want. But at the end of the day, when we had a car that could complete the race, we did really well with it.”

While he has had some calls about potential NASCAR rides, there also could be some opportunities outside of NASCAR, Kligerman said.

“Outside of NASCAR, there are some pretty big opportunities that have been brought to me this week,” he said. “I can’t go into them too much, but they are very exciting and kind of something I didn’t really think about until they came to me.

“It is something (where) I might look at those as well and decide what puts me in the best quality position to go win races, which will always lead to a chance back at Cup.”

Some of Kligerman’s optimism comes from not being family funded. He views these challenges as what he believes will be a blessing in disguise.

So far, everything has worked out well for his crewmen. Kligerman has helped find new jobs for some of the crewmen that weren't retained.

“I knew things were going to have to change to continue for this season,” Kligerman said. “I didn’t know they would be this drastic. … I’m not stressed at all.

“The right opportunity will come, and when it comes, we’ll be ready to take it and take it by the neck and be ready to perform.”

He doesn’t expect that to be this weekend, but he believes something good is headed his way.

“I’ve always been an optimistic person,” Kligerman said. “I’ve always been a person that’s been grateful to be here because at the end of the day, you’re not guaranteed any of this, especially a kid like myself who my dad spent less on my racing than a college tuition.

“So I’ve done it completely on myself and my talent and gotten to this level and gotten to the top of the sport.”